The Starving Art(2012)

Dancer(en)

Sergei Polunin is a breathtaking ballet talent who questions his existence and his commitment to dance just as he is about to become a legend.

Me, Dorothy...and This Road To Oz(en)

Kansas City Ballet prepares for the world premiere of The WIzard Of Oz with unfettered access to show the process of creating a brand new ballet from the timeless classic.

Dance for All(en)

Ella(en)

Ella Havelka made history in 2013 by becoming the first Indigenous dancer at the 50-year-old Australian Ballet. In this engaging, MIFF Premiere Fund-supported world premiere, Ella – a descendant of the Wiradjuri people – charts her inspiring journey from growing up in modest circumstances as the only child of a single mother in rural Australia to gaining entry to National Ballet School, then spending formative years with the acclaimed Bangarra Dance Theatre before accepting the invitation of The Australian Ballet's artistic director David McAllister to join one of the world's foremost ballet companies.

Darcey Bussell: My Life on the BBC(en)

The former principal ballerina tells her story, with historic performances from the BBC archives and candid interviews from throughout her career. Showing how she grew up in front of the camera and mastered television.

Dance of the Little Swans: Vaganova Academy Auditions Young Dancers(en)

Many young girls dream of becoming ballerinas, but only very few are prepared to apply the all-out effort and make the sacrifices that this dream demands. The famous Vaganova Ballet Academy in St.Petersburg welcomes the most talented and determined young dancers, but it makes them no promises. RT Doc meets some of the young hopefuls storming the doors of the famous Academy to find out more about the dream they share, and to follow them on their first steps towards achieving it.

KARO(en)

Karolina Kuras is a Toronto-based ballet and portrait photographer. In this piece, we explore her creative collaboration with Canadian National Ballet dancer/choreographer Brent Parolin and Tanya Howard, as well as make-up artist Ashley Readings. We wanted to encapsulate the essence rather than the information. There are many pieces where Karolina is featured as a photographer discussing her work, but we wanted to get underneath the surface, into the intangible matters that drive and inspire her to create and collaborate so intimately. This project was captured on 35mm film, with a small crew in Karolina’s home studio.

Rhythm is it!(en)

RHYTHM IS IT! records the first big educational project of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle. The orchestra ventured out of the ivory tower of high culture into boroughs of low life for the sake of 250 youngsters. They had been strangers to classical music, but after arduous but thrilling preparation they danced to Stravinsky's 'Le Sacre du Printemps' ('The Rite of Spring'). Recorded with a breathtaking fidelity of sound, this film from Thomas Grube and Enrique Sánchez Lansch documents the stages of the Sacre project and offers deep insights into the rehearsals of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Not Bad at All(en)

Every weekend for six years, Jessica takes a bus from NYC, where she lives and works as a set decorator, to Boston, her hometown, where she cares for her dad, Aloysius, who is 87 and has advanced Alzheimer's disease.

A Delicate Balance(fr)

A Delicate Balance explores the life and dreams of young dancers at the dawn of adolescence. A tender and captivating documentary in which the students of the Quebec Superior Ballet School tell each other with candid lucidity.

Der Tänzer Heinz Bosl(de)

A documentary about dancer Heinz Bosl who died in 1975 - aged 28.

The King Who Invented Ballet(en)

September 2015 marks the 300th anniversary of the death of King Louis XIV of France and this documentary looks at how Louis XIV not only had a personal passion and talent for dance, but supported and promoted key innovations, like the invention of dance notation and the founding of the world's first ballet school, that would lay the foundations for classical ballet to develop.

Varicella(ru)

Seven-year-old Polina and her 13-year-old sister Nastia live and breathe ballet. Both of them are studying at the Boris Eifman Dance Academy in frigid Saint Petersburg. They’re currently awaiting their grades to find out if they’ve done well enough to be promoted to the next year, with Nastia lovingly guiding he little sister through the process. But in the meantime, Nastia also has to deal with the high demands that the academy places on its students. The gorgeously styled shots are sometimes calm, even clinical, and sometimes warm, lively and funny.

Darcey Bussell: A Ballerina's Life(en)

Prima ballerina Darcey Bussell talks about her life at the top. From tears at ballet school and forgetting the steps, to becoming the Royal Ballet's youngest-ever principal and her favourite roles, Darcey recalls her performing career from its earliest days.

Men at the Barre - Inside the Royal Ballet(en)

Is there still a stigma for boys who want to enter ballet? Film-maker Richard Macer investigates the reality of being a male dancer today at the Royal Ballet.

Karen Carpenter: Starving for Perfection(en)

Following Karen Carpenter's meteoric climb to stardom in the 1970s and the little-known anorexia nervosa diagnosis that resulted in her untimely death.

O Cysne(pt)

Dancer Vera Grabinska performs choreography by Pierre Michailowsky for the piece "Le Cygne", by Saint-Saëns, next to the artificial fountain on the grounds of the International Sample Fair in Rio de Janeiro. The dance movements alternate with images of swans in the water.

Black Ballerina(en)

BLACK BALLERINA tells the story of several black women from different generations who fell in love with ballet. Six decades ago, while pursuing their dreams, Joan Myers Brown, Delores Browne and Raven Wilkinson confronted racism, exclusion and unequal opportunity. Today, young dancers of color continue to face formidable challenges breaking into the overwhelmingly white world of ballet. Moving back and forth in time, this lyrical, character driven film shows how far we still have to go and stimulates a fresh discussion about race, inclusion and opportunity across all sectors of American society.

Alba: Not Everyone Will Be Taken Into the Future(en)

An intense, intimate and beautiful journey into the mind of Alba, a 16 year old ballet dancer at the acclaimed Corella Dance Academy in Barcelona. Her inner thoughts start to question the life she is leading, her lost adolescence, and her place in the world.

Historia de un ballet(es)

This short documentary describes the process and inspiration behind the creation and performance of a new Cuban ballet based on Afro-Cuban traditions and beliefs.